Counselors & Campers Cultivating Self-Advocacy Through Mentorship

This week I am inspired to sit down with two young women who have both been an integral part of the campUS experience.  campUS is an overnight camp for teens with hearing loss focusing on successful transition and leadership skills. Our first guest is Dr. Katie Colborn, pediatric audiologist at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, who served as a campUS counselor 2 different years.  Our second guest is Audrey Susz, a former camper attending twice, who is now a sophomore at the Ohio State University.  These two inspiring ladies share the impact of the campUS experience from both a counselor and camper perspective.  Fundamentally, it is important to offer these opportunities to develop strong relationships and advocacy skills.  Join Dr. Spangler and be inspired to start your own same-self peer connections group!  

For More Information like the Facebook Group:

https://www.facebook.com/campUS.teens.HL

Watch this YouTube video (thanks to Phonak) about the campUS experience titled: Teens with hearing loss:  Learning to advocate for yourself

people that maybe enhanced my differences

https://youtu.be/lGDNdjkXtDM

For more information about Dr. Carrie Spangler- check out her LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/carrie-spangler/

For transcripts of this episode- visit the podcast website at: https://empowearaudiology.buzzsprout.com

Transcript

17:03:45 Welcome to the empowerEAR Audiology Podcast. My name is Dr. Carrie Spangler and I am your host, I am a passionate audiologist with a lifelong journey of living with hearing challenges in this vibrant hearing world.
17:03:59 Thank you for listening and I hope you will subscribe and invite others to listen and leave me a positive review.
17:04:07 Today, I'm really excited to have two different people on the podcast today, because we are going to be continuing a conversation about campUS, which I have a passion for working with teens who have hearing loss, and in the last episode, I talked with
17:04:26 Dr. Gail Whitelaw, the CO coordinator of the campus program, and we talked about our passion of developing the program and sustaining the program, and today I am excited because I have both a counselor and a previous camper, who was going to be a counselor,
17:04:47 but because of COVID was unable to on the podcast today so I am going to let each of them give a little introduction, just who they are and where they're at right now and as we get through the podcast are going to learn a lot more about the incredible
17:05:06 ladies so I have Dr Katie Colburn, and this podcast and I also have Audrey Susz on the podcast as well. So I'm going to let Dr. Colburn introduce herself, Katie if you want to give a little background about yourself and then we'll let Audrey.
17:05:25 Sure. So, as Dr Spangler said I'm Dr. Katie Colborn, I recently graduated in May with my doctorate degree in audiology from the northeast Ohio AuD Consortium, little bit of a handful but basically it's just the consortium with Kent Akron and Cleveland Clinic
17:05:54 and then upon graduation I was actually hired at the Cleveland Clinic, as the newest pediatric audiologists, so just taking the program and kind of expanding it out using my knowledge of my own personal experience with hearing loss as well as everything
17:05:57 that Dr Spangler and all of my other mentors have taught me. Well thank you thank you for being on today we're so excited to have you and Audrey, can you tell a little bit about yourself too.
17:06:09 Yes, of course. So as Dr Spangler said my name is Audrey Susz. I am a sophomore at The Ohio State University.
17:06:18 I am a psychology major and I also have a double minor in Speech and Hearing Sciences and Disability Studies. I'm not quite sure what I want to do yet my future I somehow want to integrate all three of those subjects into a job, but I'm still trying to
17:06:32 figure out, you know through different resources and different classes what exactly would be best for me. And yeah, good yeah so we have a buckeye on the call today to which is exciting.
17:06:46 So I thought we would just kind of go back a little bit and just kind of share how we know each other how we kind of met each other so I don't know, Katie Do you remember how we met.
17:07:00 Yeah, so it was my second year in grad school, and I was doing a rotation and the Kent clinic, and they told me that I would actually be working with an educational audiologist that day.
17:07:17 I'm hoping with some add screens or auditory processing disorder evaluation, and they said you know you might like this one because she actually has hearing loss too and I was like, Yes, finally somebody else that has kind of like been through my journey,
17:07:27 I can kind of help guide me with like everything else that I have going on so it was very distinct memory.
17:07:34 and can kind of help guide me with like everything else that I have going on so it was very distinct memory. I have I completely remember meeting you that day, because as soon as you told me that you had hearing loss. I think we were in the developing
17:07:44 stages of planning campUS for that. Yeah, and I had already known you for maybe an hour, and I was like she would be a perfect counselor for campUS and you jumped on board which is really exciting.
17:08:02 And you had a lot of other things going on too but we don't have talked about all that but you were starting a family you were to school you had lots of, lots of excitement going on that year.
17:08:18 And then Audrey How did we meet.
17:08:22 So I was really young when I met you I believe I was in like third or fourth grade when you performed a functional listening evaluation for me, because you were my educational audiologist and worked hand in hand with my intervention specialist, Sandy Proccacio
which I still work with very closely to this day.
17:08:39 But I really got to know you because of your Hit It program, which stands for hearing impaired teams interacting together, and I started going around.
17:08:49 I think high school, and I really got to know you very well because you were such an important part of that program and you made me really learn a lot about advocacy and talking with other people that also had a hearing loss, and ever since then we've
17:09:02 And ever since me just been super close that I was so glad that you joined that you joined us for the Hit IT program because you were such an incredible mentor for all the middle school kids and all the new people who decided to come or students that decided to come.
17:09:20 So it kind of goes hand in hand with the campUS program as well.
17:09:24 But before we get too far into the campUS program.
17:09:29 Do you guys want to share just a little bit about your own hearing journey and, kind of, you know, when you were diagnosed and what kind of technology, you use right now.
17:09:41 So Katie want to start. Sure, Um, so it's kind of complicated story with me. I grew up with Big D def grandparents who signed only and they don't use any amplification.
17:09:53 So I learned how to sign from very very early age. Actually, before I started speaking I was signing. And then when I was probably in about third grade my younger sister was diagnosed with hearing loss, and got hearing aids as well.
17:10:08 And then I failed a school screening and high school is my freshman year, and they decided to send me to her audiologist, they didn't believe it at first, the numerous audiograms on me and figured out that I actually have something called EVA or and enlarged
17:10:23 vestibular aqueduct which is the same thing My sister has, which believe it or not, is not hereditary, my grandparents.
17:10:32 So, after that, they sent me with my first pair of hearing aids. I was a little reluctant to wear them didn't start consistently wearing them until grad school when I got a new pair that streams on my iPhone, because who doesn't want to do that.
17:10:47 And then you know just from there I started wearing to hearing needs right now so it's been a pretty crazy journey but I wouldn't trade it.
17:10:58 Oh good yeah and you add so much to that campUS experience because not a lot of teenagers really want to wear their hearing aids or their amplification so to have to start your journey.
17:11:16 During that time of adolescence when you've gone through so many changes and you want to fit in and there's something going on, just adds another perspective to the campUS experience.
17:11:26 So, Andrey you want to talk a little bit about your hearing journey. Of course, so I was born with normal hearing we think about each three, I got to hearing aids.
17:11:40 I was diagnosed with a bilateral sensorineural moderate hearing loss mild to moderate, and then over the years I progressively lost it on. And eventually, I became profoundly deaf in both ears.
17:11:55 and then when I was 10 almost 11, I received a cochlear implant on my right side.
17:12:00 And that's currently what I'm wearing right now and then in my left ear I still have a little bit of hearing left but I don't wear any assistive technology with that.
17:12:08 And I'm doing really well. I love my cochlear implant. You are an inspiration for me when I went through my whole cochlear implant process last year. And I know I met with you and your mom and you still remember them because you were a little bit older when you
17:12:26 went through that process so you were able to kind of share with me your journey through that which is really important, which kind of gets me to my next question is, I know Katie, you have a sister and you have grandparents who have hearing loss but
17:12:42 did you ever know anyone else outside of your family that had hearing challenges. I did not not until actually I went to campUS, and started to me so and the other counselors that were in the AuD programs with me.
17:12:58 And it kind of made me realize and kind of helped me understand the importance of not only wearing my devices but knowing interacting with those around me that I've learned during last.
17:13:10 Yeah, and to think about, I guess, you know your choice of going into audiology is, I'm just gonna kind of go off a side question there being reluctant to where you're hearing a high school.
17:13:25 When you diagnosed and then, not knowing anybody outside of your family. How did it kind of steer you into audiology and I think you're such a strong advocate now for kids and to you.
17:13:40 But if you look at your history you by will think that. Yeah, yeah. So I actually first started to think about audiology because like watching my sister, my sister was diagnosed late later than usual.
17:13:55 And just like seeing how hard it was for her to catch up to her typically developing peers are typically hearing peers, really made me realize how much advocating and educated, we need to do as audiologist for parents for other professionals you know anybody
17:14:11 really that interacts with kiddos on a daily basis. And then after you know kind of watching my journey through it, it made me understand how important it is to really connect with those around you who have other, like other hearing disorders, because
17:14:26 I think had I had that I wouldn't have been so reluctant and so shy to hide my devices.
17:14:35 Yeah, and I hear that a lot from from teenagers to they meet someone else and they're like, Oh, I'm not the only one, right, it's not just my grandparents that have this going on because that's a lot of times just in the normal public or, you know, the
17:14:51 mainstream world really associate hearing loss with getting old. And so a lot of times we don't really associate hearing loss with the younger population, and it does impact the younger population.
17:15:07 So, Audrey Did you know anyone outside of yourself and When was the first time you met someone else with hearing loss.
17:15:25 Yeah, so I actually was really on when I first met somebody that had a hearing loss. I mentioned before my intervention specialist Mrs Proccacio. She works for everybody in my school district that has a hearing loss so naturally whenever she had a new
17:15:33 person with a hearing loss, I met them as well.
17:15:36 There was a guy at my first grade class that had a hearing loss.
17:15:41 He eventually moved out. But then, one of my best friends. Her name is Leah Messmer.
17:15:47 I met her when I was in sixth grade and we have been best friends ever since I still keep in touch with her a lot. And then I believe she works with like 15 other students I also have a hearing loss.
17:16:01 And if we're in the same school we try to have a similar time period where we can sit down, we can learn about advocacy skills we can learn about hearing loss in history we can learn about different strategies that we can promote in our school problems
17:16:18 arise and it was a really, really enriching experience and I'm also very lucky to have other like you know Hit It and campUS, so kind of expand my community as well.
17:16:30 Yes, and I wish every school I had a Mrs. P, because she is amazing, and the sense that we know how important advocacy is and we're not going to know those skills, as someone or an individual with you.
17:16:48 Unless Unless somebody teaches us, because we don't know what to ask for we don't know what to ask for it. And so that those are really important concepts which kind of brings me to the campUS experience and why I had said in the first episode with Dr.
17:17:06 Whitelaw really what campus was about and similar to both of you I went through mainstream type school and didn't really know that many people with hearing loss and didn't have the opportunity to learn about advocacy in my high school, and honestly
17:17:27 through college, either. And I was missing that so much with really personally gave me the idea of the campUS experience and that's when I said Dr. Whitelaw you need to come and help me with this would be a great team and that's kind of how we got started
17:17:45 with, with the campUS experience but we wanted an opportunity for teens throughout Ohio and beyond to be able to network and have a positive transition experience.
17:17:57 So I thought, you know, we would talk a little bit about the role of the different people involved and Katie you were at counselor for a couple of years, and so can you just talk about how you got involved with campUS and what your role was and how you
17:18:18 felt like you were all really helped with the campUS experience.
17:18:22 Yeah, so, um, I kind of got involved, like you said earlier, just by you know you bringing up the idea of campUS and kind of explaining it to me. And it just kind of started to spark, all of these different you know ideas in my head about why I need to
17:18:38 be doing this or you know how much I wish I had that as a teen and so I wanted to help somebody else have that experience about feel the way that I did growing up.
17:18:49 So, you know, as a counselor, you're just kind of there to not only educate and advocate for the students but to show them what they can do, not what they're limited by.
17:19:00 And then, you know, just being a voice or, you know, a set of ears for them to just really come to and talk to because it's a hard thing to go through, and it's even harder when you don't have other people around you that understand what you're going
17:19:16 through. So you know, like my favorite part was just when we all got together in small groups, and some of the campers who started kind of explaining what they've been going through and all the emotions, they had built up and bottled up inside, and they
17:19:29 didn't. They didn't have anybody older to really talk to about it so just being able to be there and to listen to them it's all they needed. So just a follow up question Katie is you had said that you had not really met anyone outside of the family
17:19:46 until the campUS experience and you met some counselors and some of them happened to the other AuD students, who also had hearing loss so from that perspective as having those mentors of other counselors, how did you feel about that and when did that
17:20:04 bring to you overall. yeah so I just, it's such a small community to have other you know audiologist in general who have a hearing loss that we kind of, we have to stick together and we have to help each other through it so you know just having those
17:20:20 other connections, right off the bat where you know I'm struggling in a class I can reach out to Peyton or you know John and just ask them like hey, how did you get through this class what devices, did you use what did you do differently, what am I missing,
17:20:34 what kind of resources do you have available at your school that I could look into getting for myself, so.
17:20:41 Yeah, and I think that was one of the gifts for me and then in charge of this student or the teen track and the counselors was and it was almost a byproduct of campUS like I didn't realize that, you know, we wanted to get all these teens together,
17:20:58 who had not met anyone. But then, all of you as counselors and younger adults, 20 something, you know, who hadn't met anybody either and kind of almost like this trickle down effect that really was amazing.
17:21:14 Another component of campUS that just, you know, was fulfilling but me and one of the co-coordinators too.
17:21:23 So, Andrey as a camper. And what what do you feel like was positive for you and what did you feel like really.
17:21:33 You left campUS at, you know, knowing or learning or connecting with.
17:21:40 So, I was a camper for two years. I wish I could have gone before because I knew it existed longer but I couldn't do the other commitments but I'm just going to campus in the two years I have learned and met so many positive people, and it's really cool because
17:21:58 you look at it as you know the counselors are helping the campers there's also like the campers often the counselor that Katie said, I'm just talking about experiences and opening up to other people.
17:22:08 It's very rare for me to do that because I feel like Not a lot of people understand, you know what other people are going through unless you're going through it too.
17:22:16 So it was really cool to see how other people are also going through similar struggles, and you're not alone in the process even though every person hearing loss journey is different.
17:22:25 We all those things in those same core experiences that it was really cool to kind of break down and talk about, and we always have like a guest speaker that comes, that's like somebody that is just a really positive influencer I made like
17:22:41 such a big impact in the hearing loss community, and I always enjoyed listening to like the different speakers every year. And it's always cool to see like the growth because usually it's like with the people returning back every year so it's really cool
17:22:54 to see like the growth that every person has exhibited at like the past couple of years. And like their careers and education.
17:23:03 Yeah, I always like the keynotes too we, and that I explained it and I said that we try to get celebrities in the hearing loss world to Come talk about their journey and we've had the community and then they, you know, Miss San Antonio and Miss Pennsylvania,
17:23:21 and just different people who had done different things and been successful, and they had not let hearing loss, really define who they are just kind of expand who they are.
17:23:33 But I, I guess I want to go back to a question for you.
17:23:38 I always get from either. Sometimes parents, and sometimes teams like, I don't need to come to something like this like I feel like I'm fine like I, you know, and I think about you, like you were a cheerleader at Hudson you were involved in lots of different
17:23:55 clubs and people might look at you and be like, you know, you're fine like why do you need something like this. So, what can we share with others, whether it's parents or teens about campUS and, and why they might want to give up, 24, to 36, hours of
17:24:13 their life to have this experience from the outside and it looks like Sometimes a person is doing amazing, and well I don't let me hearing loss to find me there are you know bad days that I have really struggling there are great day for I'm driving and,
17:24:22 you know, I'm the kind of person that doesn't really let that be known to other people. So I feel like, you know, your own judge of character your own judge, hey maybe like this can completely do that this can be something that can really help me.
17:24:45 And it's, it's never a bad thing to go to campUS. I mean, I always learned something new, you may think that oh you know I did this last year or I'm fine, but there's always something that will surprise me there's always new people that you're going to
17:24:56 meet and in the future, especially if they're going to college or they're going into like a career. It's good to have connections to people that have experienced it before you and while you may not think that they're going to have problems in the future
17:25:11 you might and you may want to connect with those people that have similar experiences on you. Katie do you want to add anything to that?
17:25:34 Yeah, so with Mackenzie, I mean Mackenzie is like you said in a mainstream classroom I mean she knows other other students with hearing loss she interacts with them on a day to day basis, but I think you know her just being there she's a very shy person,
17:25:50 but her I think coming with me and just being able to interact with other people, it's a safe space so she doesn't have to feel like she's pressured to do anything.
17:26:00 It's a time for her to be able to open up on her own and to talk, but also to learn about a lot of the advocacy things that are missing in you know mainstream schools where they don't have somebody dedicated to teach them that I think it's very important
17:26:14 along with parents, because even though my mom had two with hearing loss over at completely different ages. She really learned a lot about how to advocate for your student but how to let them advocate for themselves and what kind of, you know, resources
17:26:27 are available because when I went to college I mean there was nobody to tell me like, Oh, you can get close caption and you can have a note taker you can, you know, have priority seating all those kinds of things and FM system, you know, for your hearing
17:26:40 aid. There was nobody really to teach her what to have mean even asked for so i think you know just for being there and meeting other parents, and it kind of also let my mom, create a support group for herself because you know it's not just about us
17:26:56 it's about the family as a whole, which is really why pediatric audiology spoke to me is because I can create this family centered approach.
17:27:06 And you know allow the parents to feel supported and not feel like it was their fault or they did something wrong or they're completely lost and they don't know what to do for their kid.
17:27:16 I think it just kind of brings the family together and allows the parents to feel more supported and more confident which then allows the students to feel more more supported and empowered.
17:27:26 So, yeah, and that is just another I think integral part of the campUS experience is where we do have a parent professional track that aligns, you know parallel with the teen track and having the parents come and being able to network with other parents
17:27:43 I feel. We have a lot of support for itty bitty for toddlers and infants at for support groups, and then all of a sudden, as a parent, you like we have to like go, and we don't know how to support our transitioning teenager to the real world and what should
17:28:03 I be thinking about and just different things like safety and communication and living on your own and all of the things that the parents really learned a lot about I think in that process.
17:28:17 So, one thing, Audrey I wanted to go back to you and ask you, you mentioned a while ago. Let me step back and Katie something. at you kind of mentioned that you didn't know about asking for captioning and asking for some of these services from when to go to college.
17:28:36 Andrey Do you feel like by attending campus. You felt more prepared for your freshman and sophomore year at The Ohio State University, and, and why.
17:28:48 Yes, definitely. Um, I did learn through my intervention specialist like growing up middle school, high school that those services were offered to various colleges, but because I always wanted to go to the Ohio State University.
17:29:01 It was really cool to go to campUS and see like people like you and people that would translate that were already up in a graduate program that had been through undergrad, it was too and they.
17:29:13 I actually personally asked them as well as you covered it in the program but I really got to ask specifically like what they did and what services helped them and maybe what they went through that, that they would have changed and for me to avoid so
17:29:27 I definitely felt a lot more prepared and my experience here with accommodations it's been amazing.
17:29:37 I guess, um, do you guys have any highlights of campUS that you want to just share with everyone who's listening today that may enlighten them or might even encourage them as if they're a professional to start their own type of a program.
17:30:02
17:30:07 So it being just highlights is the core of why you created campUS and why you're not you're a lot of continue to do is just the support the resources available are like none other.
17:30:19 So, you know, as a professional now actually practicing audiology that's something that I always want to offer my families, you know, like you said, there's a lot for the younger kiddos.
17:30:30 but when you get to those teen years It's hard enough, let alone having a hearing loss on top of it.
17:30:36 So just, you know, being able to offer that kid, these resources and so you don't have to be afraid of your devices you don't have to hide your devices.
17:30:44 You know, these devices are here to help you and, and not to limit to you but to push you even further to connect with people that you never would have connected with before.
17:30:53 So, you know, I think professionals really need to look at it as a whole and even attend because there's so many things that they could learn. You know, there's not only audiologists there to ask questions to but there's parents to get their perspective
17:31:07 there's teens that just speak up.
17:31:09 We have the, the counselor panel where they can ask, you know, any number of questions so along with the keynote, I think that it's really important for professionals to understand the audiology side of it and not to just treat the kid in a classroom
17:31:25 not worried about what goes on at home or social life or sports or anything like that. So, yeah, you do get such a different perspective and I, I'm always amazed that it's a 24 to 30 hour period of time, and the connection that is so strong that are made
17:31:45 by just bringing people together, and I feel like the lifelong connection for a lot of these teens and and counselors to that they kept in contact with as well.
17:31:59 So, Andrey Do you have a highlight.
17:32:01 Yeah, so I remember we always had like one staple activity that we did I think the last campUS that I attend doing me like these bracelets, where we had like one word on them, and I actually still have my bracelet and are you wearing it so funny I'm not
17:32:17 wearing mine right now but I wore like, every week, and whenever I'm like doing homework I always look at it because it's on my right hand and I look at it and mind says the word believe on it because it's a reminder for me to like believe in myself.
17:32:32 And just to go back to the person that I am I know that like my disability doesn't define me doesn't limit need to believe in myself and I can do it. And I'm not feeling confident or, I'm having a bad day.
17:32:44 So it's like those little moments that campUS brings and means it has given me, you know, that way so I've given me like positive memories, and it still reminded me a positive memory, like to later and I definitely think like Katie said like it's a holistic
17:33:02 thing.
17:33:05 Not many people have a team behind them like I did like educational audiologist and intervention specialist I had like a whole hearing loss community I was so grateful to have that you have to think of the people that most likely don't have that in your career bringing
17:33:18 this program to those people that don't have it you could be changing their life in the future for like that.
17:33:33 program to those people that don't have it you could be changing their life in their future for like the better.
17:33
17:33:48 So anyways, thank you for both sharing those highlights of of your own campUS experiences too because I think that's important for other people to hear and knowing hey I want to start a program or I want to offer this to someone would be, and I think
17:34:08 motivation by hearing both of your stories from the counselor perspective and having everybody who is in the shoes to the teen perspective, being able to go through a lot of these activities and to be socially connected is important as well.
So, again as we wrap up, I want to say thank you to both of you for being on this podcast today and be able to share you story and journey and I appreciate it so much. So thank you both for being on today. Thanks for having us. Thanks again and have a great day.
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